The present invention relates to body weight measuring systems and more particularly to such measuring systems with historical record display.
In the prior art, personal body weight scales typically include a spring loaded, graduated disc coupled to a weighing platform so that the weight of a person on the platform causes the disc to be angularly displaced by an amount proportional to the weight. The graduated disc generally includes a set of calibrated points which, as the disc is angularly displaced, pass before a transparent window and a pointer to provide an analog read-out of the weight of the person on the weighing platform.
With the advent of low cost digital electronics, the conventional analog personal weight scale has been supplemented in the marketplace by newly developed digital personal body weight scales. In such systems, a variety of force sensors may be used to obtain a digital signal representative of the person's body weight. Such sensors may include the rotating disc arrangement noted above, wherein that disc includes a digital position read-out device for generating such a digital weight signal. The digital weight signals are then conventionally displayed on a digital read-out, such as a light emitting code (LED) display, or a liquid crystal display (LCD). Such systems are known to provide easily-read personal body weight scales.
It is also known to combine such digital scales with digital networks to provide weight-related information. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,113,039 discloses a body weight digital scale in combination with a digital processor which compares a measured weight with a selected reference value (associated with the user's height and age), and generates a signal indicating whether the user is over, at, or below his "normal" weight at a point in time.
Yet another of such prior art systems is represented by U.S. Pat. No. 3,967,690. This patent discloses a digital read-out diet scale which provides a dieter with a signal which may be selectively chosen to be representative of either his weight, or a change of weight with respect to a previous measurement. While this latter system does provide information which is of importance to the dieter, the displayed information is only representative of a change from a single previous data point. In view of this feature, a dieter may be extremely frustrated by the relatively slow change in his weight over a period of time, since he can only view a weight at a previous moment in time.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a digital personal weight monitoring system with an historical record display of the user's weight as measured at a succession of weigh-ins.